PT Director, Fregoe, Earns National Certification for Wound Care

Massena Memorial Hospital and The National Alliance of Wound Care® (NAWC®) are pleased to announce that Eileen Fregoe, PT, MMH Director of Physical Therapy, has successfully passed the examination to become Wound Care Certified (WCC®).
The WCC credential is fully accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). The NCCA helps to ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs/organizations that assess professional competency. The NCCA uses a peer review process to: establish accreditation standards, evaluate compliance with the standards and recognize organizations/programs which demonstrate compliance.
The WCC credential is a multidisciplinary wound care certification available to licensed wound care professionals from across the healthcare continuum. This certification is the professional recognition that Eileen Fregoe, PT, WCC possesses the qualifications to deliver the highest standard in wound care to her patients. This certification is awarded to those health care professional with several years of experience in wound care, who have completed the additional coursework required to sit for the national examination, and a passing grade on the NAWC certification exam.
Fregoe received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy at the Ithaca College in 1986. She has worked in many areas of physical therapy, including wound care, home care, and acute care. She is currently employed at Massena Memorial Hospital where she works as the Director of Physical Therapy and on the outpatient wound care team. Mrs. Fregoe has been at Massena Memorial Hospital for 21 years.
According to Mrs. Fregoe, many people are not aware that physical therapy encompasses wound care in its practice.  “Physical Therapists are in a unique position to offer not only the wound care expertise, but also the complementary modalities such as ultrasound or electrical stimulation to assist in wound healing.  We are also the experts in positioning, and modification of seating systems.  As part of the additional training, physical therapists are able to perform “conservative sharp debridement” (removing harmful or unhealthy tissue using tweezers or scissors), which other members of the healthcare team cannot,” explained Fregoe.
“Wound care is more than just dressing changes”, states Fregoe, “The wound care team looks at the patient as a whole to determine what is slowing down the healing process.  We look at laboratory data, other diseases, nutrition, lifestyle, and more.  We try to educate the patient as much as possible about the causes, prevention, and self care.”